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The project AQUASMARTT (data acquisition with underwater and above-water sustainable wireless nodes for monitoring how climatic changes affects natural disasters and biodiversity) targets the design of a sustainable and affordable integrated above water and underwater sensor network infrastructure for monitoring coastal environments and studying climate changes and biodiversity. Its objectives are:

  • design a hybrid underwater and above water network architecture that enables data retrieval from submerged and surface sensors;
  • develop the first Italian low-cost and low-power sustainable acoustic modem that can be used in a dense sensor network;
  • formulate pathloss and fading models for radio frequency signals used for underwater and above water transmissions and to cross the water to air boundary;
  • release an open-source network simulator for integrated underwater and above water networks;
  • develop a proof-of-concept prototype demonstrator of the network;
  • disseminate the results to scientific community, stakeholders, and the public.

Research and development activities results will be shown in final prototype validation and testbed/field demonstrations, involving both vendors and operators.

AquaSmartt is part of Spoke 6 – Innovative Architectures and Extreme Environments

Project PI: Michele Zorzi

  • Definition of a shallow water and deep water use case in the Venice lagoon, definition with stakeholders of sensors to be acquired, spatial and temporal granularity requirements of the measures. Definition of the overall system architecture.
  • Development of a first acoustic modem prototype, test of innovative modulation and coding schemes, exploration of underwater MIMO transmissions, and integration of the modem with the complete protocol stack suite provided by the open-source DESERT Underwater Framework. Design of a fair anti-jamming routing protocol based on Q-Learning. Transmission adaptation based on channel quality.
  • Study radio frequency propagation underwater, formulation and validation of a propagation model with tank and sea tests. Inclusion of the proposed model into the DESERT Underwater simulation and experimentation framework.
It is expected that the following areas may take advantage of the innovative deployment: Natural Disaster Prevention (floods), Marine Scientists (biologists, ecologists, vets, and geologists), Aquafarming (Aquaculture 4.0), Bridge, Quay and Infrastructure (e.g, MOSE) Maintenance, Smart Ports (Shipping 4.0), and Governments (including public security).
  • Development of a floating sensor prototype to be used as testing platform for communication and data acquisition in coastal areas and lagoons.
  • Low Power RF reaches a range of 2 meters in underwater communication links in rivers and lakes, while in the sea it reaches only a few centimeters: still, it can be used to transmit data from surface nodes to a destination gateways even in the case they are partially submersed (e.g., when the waves cover them partially).
  • Age of Information must be taken into account when developing adaptation algorithm in underwater networks, due to the time variability of the acoustic channel.

It is expected that the following areas may take advantage of the innovative deployment: Natural Disaster Prevention (floods), Marine Scientists (biologists, ecologists, vets, and geologists), Aquafarming (Aquaculture 4.0), Bridge, Quay and Infrastructure (e.g, MOSE) Maintenance, Smart Ports (Shipping 4.0), and Governments (including public security).

Papers:
F. Busacca, L. Galluccio, S. Palazzo, A. Panebianco, “A comparative analysis of predictive channel models for real shallow water environments,” Computer Networks, Volume 250, 2024, 110557, ISSN 1389-1286, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2024.110557. 

M. Ghalkhani, F. Campagnaro, A. Pozzebon, D. De Battisti, M. Biagi, M. Zorzi, “A LoRaWAN Network for the Real-Time Monitoring of the Venice Lagoon: Preliminary Tests”, IEEE/OES MetroSea, October 2023, Malta. 

R. Francescon, F. Campagnaro, F. Favaro, F. Guerra, M. Zorzi, “Software Defined Underwater Communications: an Experimenting Platform for Research”, IEEE/OES Oceans Limerick 2023. 
There are not industrial partners in the project, but stakeholders are involved in the discussion of the system requirements and some integrator companies and one new startup are providing substantial help to co-design electronic and mechanical components of the system, leaving our universities focusing on research activities.
Program partners:
 
  1. Publications
    • Expected: at least 75 publications in 36 months
    • Accomplished: 29
    • Readiness: 100%
  2. Joint Publications
    • Expected: >=30% joint publications in 36 months
    • Accomplished: 3 joint publications out of 29
    • Readiness: 100%
  3. Talks/Communication events
    • Expected: 30 talks or event chairing/organizing within SEXTET activities in 36 months
    • Accomplished: > 10 (including dissemination events and conference presentations)
    • Readiness: 100%
  4. Demo/PoC
    • Expected: 2 PoCs expected by the end of the project
    • Accomplished: 0
    • Readiness: 100% (work according to plan)
  5. Project Meetings
    • Expected: 20 meetings
    • Accomplished: 4 meetings
    • Readiness: 100%
  6. Patents/Innovations
    • Expected: 2 items over 36 months
    • Accomplished: 0
    • Readiness: 100%

Researchers involved: 120

Collaboration proposals
The AQUASMARTT Project is open to collaborations on the following topics:

  • Waterproof electrical circuits to be deployed in coastal environment.
  • Design and development of power amplifier, pre-amplifier and tx/rx switch for low-cost acoustic modems.
  • Modeling of RF noise underwater.

For any proposal of collaboration within the project please contact the project PI.